Book Recommendation - Animation Methods by David Rodriguez

Animation Methods by David Rodriguez is a very, very good book on learning animation in Maya.  It's a book that focuses primarily on 3D Character Animation, a step-by-step guide for learning Maya, and the Maya animation tools. It also has useful sections on how to get into the industry, how to make a great demo reel, and how to get a job in animation. We think this is a very useful companion book to the animation and VFX course at Bucks.

It is also an unusual book in that it makes extensive use of QR codes - meaning you can use your smartphone to scan the codes and then view a 3D animated clip of the lesson. So, not only can you read the lesson, but you can also see and understand it through a video demonstration. 

And what about David Rodriguez? Is he a pro? Does he know his stuff? He certainly seems to. His movie credits include: Star Wars: Unleashed The Force II, Piranha 3D, Star Wars Kinect, Ice Age - Continental Drift and Arctic Games.  And the book is written with the authority of an animator who has learned his craft. 

There is also a website that goes with the book, where you can download free rigs, see example scene files, have access to animation scripts, and watch Rodriguez's animation clips online. Rodriguez uses many of the same free rigs (such as Morpheus) that we recommend here at Bucks. There is a good deal of overlap between our methods.

Of course, no book on animation is perfect, and for a full list of book recommendations, see this post. But Rodriguez's book is a very useful and maybe even necessary addition to the Maya animator's library.  It is certainly the only book on the market that teaches animation in Maya, step by step.

For more on the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days, take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK. Find out why we're giving free laptops to all our students, and why we give all our students free access to videos at Lynda.com. Also, see what financial assistance might be available to you. Learn which is better for animation, a PC or a Mac? Get hold of a copy of a map so you can find your way around campus, and learn aboutmotion capture at Bucks.